New EP delivered today!

[Louis D]

1 hour ago, 25585 said:

XW are designed for Pentax spotting scopes initially (as were XF & XL). Not sure if that had a bearing on the optics placing. I am sure though it had on XW eye cups. They seem made for eye socket rim comfort as much as distance ease. Vixen SLV & Plossls are probably spotting scope user targetted for comfort too. 

I like the eye placement guide TV include with some eps. 

Well, one could try to argue it was necessary for sealing the eyepiece, except that the XL line were also sealed and didnt recess the eye lens any appreciable amount.  They probably had their reasons, we'll just never know what they were.

[Ricochet]

4 hours ago, Louis D said:

They probably had their reasons, we'll just never know what they were.

Perhaps to fit the m43 thread? The recess and thread height look pretty similar to me. 

[25585]

Several optics. Pentax zoom in the FLO sale. Celestron 2x Barlow. 2nd LVW22mm & LV9mm for bino viewer (prob Maxbright). 13mm LVW on the way. 

Big "Thank You" to @moonluna for wanting 2 TV Radians enough to swap for the LVW! 

 

[moonluna]

3 minutes ago, 25585 said:

Several optics. Pentax zoom in the FLO sale. Celestron 2x Barlow. 2nd LVW22mm & LV9mm for bino viewer (prob Maxbright). 13mm LVW on the way. 

Big "Thank You" to @moonluna for wanting 2 TV Radians enough to swap for the LVW! 

 

 

 

 

 

Glad you got it that fast and in perfect conditions. I hope you find great use and enjoy the LVW. 

[25585]

One new, an Antares Classic Erfle 40mm, a pre-owned Tele Vue 40mm Plossl & a pre-owned Celestron 2x Japanese-made Barlow. Bought from Rother, ENS & ebay respectively. 

The TV 40 will be used on my ST80 to give 10x, the scope will serve as super-finder on my Skytee 2 side mount. 

Antares have replaced their Erfle labelled range with Q70s, whatever their design may be I so the 40 is now hard to get, I was lucky. Be interesting for comparing with MaxView 40 & LVW 42. Only the LVW was expensive, & that nowhere near the extortionate price of a new 41 Panoptic (an ep I would buy pre-owned for the right price). 

Celestron 2x Japan Barlow is my 2nd. What effect do Barlows have fitted between an ep & bino viewer (rather than between focuser & bv)?

 

[25585]

Black & green. Meade 34mm SWA 5000 series. 

Chose the Meade over Maxview as rarer, this one is ex-display, presumably why still unsold. 

Eye relief not so good as the even larger 40mm. 

Heavyweight match with 35mm Panoptic under the stars soon. Eye positioning ease & comfort, lack of black outs & edge performance - with & without Paracorr2. The loser gets stripped or sold, depending on which & my mood. Winner the opposite. 

[martinl]

On 2/8/2018 at 13:34, 25585 said:

Celestron 2x Japan Barlow is my 2nd. What effect do Barlows have fitted between an ep & bino viewer (rather than between focuser & bv)?

The magnification of standard barlows (not telecentrics like PowerMates etc) increases with the distance between the barlow element and the eyepiece focal plane. I’ve measured the magnification of the Celestron Ultima barlow to be X~2.2+0.02d, where d is the distance between the top of the barlow and the EP focal plane.

If your binoviewer has an optical length of 100mm the resulting magnification would thus be about 4.2x. Placed between the binoviewer and EP it would be 2.2x if the EP focal plane is at the shoulder and about 2.07x with most TV EPs (d=-6.35)

 

[25585]

6 minutes ago, martinl said:

The magnification of standard barlows (not telecentrics like PowerMates etc) increases with the distance between the barlow element and the eyepiece focal plane. I’ve measured the magnification of the Celestron Ultima barlow to be X~2.2+0.02d, where d is the distance between the top of the barlow and the EP focal plane.

If your binoviewer has an optical length of 100mm the resulting magnification would thus be about 4.2x. Placed between the binoviewer and EP it would be 2.2x if the EP focal plane is at the shoulder and about 2.07x with most TV EPs (d=-6.35)

 

Many thanks. Glad I have both then.

[25585]

My very first decent eyepiece was a Vixen 32mm Erfle with 36.4mm threaded barrel fit. So when this Vixen LV 30mm showed up, for a nice price on ebay, had to have it. 

AFOV is 60 deg, eye relief is claimed as 20mm. Weight less than a TV 35mm Panoptic or a Meade SWA 34mm 5000 68 deg. 

No eye cup but the eye lens is (too) recessed. A rubber O ring provides a little protection from bare metal. Unscrewing the metal ring protecting the lens cel gives a small amount more of eye relief. 

I could not see the whole TFOV wearing glasses but could without. 

Comparing my LV 30 with NLVW 30 is interesting. Latter is lighter, has 65 deg AFOV and is advertised as 22.4mm eye relief. I can see the whole FOV wearing glasses. NLVW has no eye cup as such but a comfy slightly squishy cushion to protect from contact bare metal. NLVW's eye lens looks slightly larger and is less recessed than its predecessor. 

Star test next. 

[25585]

Vixen NLV 50mm. 

About same weight as the TV 55mm Plossl or 35mm Panoptic, perhaps a bit less. 

Nice to hold with its chequered rubber grip band. Slippery otherwise. 

No problem with eye relief. As the photo shows however, eye lens is deeply recessed, so effective just right for wearing glasses, but too long without. 

Eye cup is fixed but a comfortably deep cushion. Coatings are greenish as photos show. Tube, as for NLV/W eps is a thinner inner, with air space between it and it's gold jacket. All lenses are in that assembly, the chrome bottom tube contains none, unlike NLVW 30mm. 

Of the 2 inch fit eps, this 50 is biggest and comfiest to use. LV 30mm comes 4th, LVW 42mm is 3rd, NLVW 30mm is 2nd and NLV 50mm is 1st. 

(I do not have a LV 50mm, but comparing the two 30mm Vixens above, I think a LV 50 would be heavier due to its thicker tube and have a less good eye cup)

 

[25585]

And here is the final eyepiece. A Takahashi 28mm 60 degree Erfle. 

It has about 20mm usable eye relief with its eye cup rolled down, or removed. Takahashi's largest AFOV ep. About on a par with Vixen LV eps. 

The eye lens is much much nearer it's cylinder top than either LE or Abbe Ortho eps. Eye cup aperture is wider. 

Being 1.25 the Erfle is light. Less than a TV 32mm Plossl. Same robust feel and checkered rubbery grip band. And Japanese made

My final eye piece, I am glad it's so pleasing. And intentionally an Erfle as was my very first, a Vixen 32mm. 

Many thanks to @FLO for ordering the Tak, & the other rarey eps I have bought from them recently.

This 28mm joins Vixen 32, Antares 32 & 40, TAL 12, Fullerscope 20 & GSO 30 in my Erfles case. 5 lens fun. 

Need to get to use some now!

Edited May 11, 2018 by 25585
pix!

[Timebandit]

28 minutes ago, 25585 said:

And here is the final eyepiece. 

Many thanks to @FLO

 

 

 

 

Final eyepiece ??? . I will put a bet on that it is not. There is no cure for being a collectionist , apart from bankruptcy☺

 

I think you are trying to be FLO customer of the year . And you are surely winning at the moment. Some nice eyepieces you have though?

 

 

[R26 oldtimer]

Now let's start that "New telescope delivered today"...

Great Ep's you have there

[25585]

Bit late for New Telescope but yet to unbox the 300P. An OO UK VX10L up north keeps appearing in my dreams "you know you want a big F6.."  so maybe another one more. 

I doubt I will be FLO customer of the year, pricier buys than my total, look what imagers spend on mounts and gadgets, the real honeypot for retailers.

Happy to demonstrate real world Primaluce set-ups though

[Louis D]

2 hours ago, 25585 said:

That is some seriously old school eyepiece construction technique.  Exposed retaining ring with spanner wrench notches?  It's probably why they covered it with that rather extensive rubber eye cup.

[25585]

9 minutes ago, Louis D said:

That is some seriously old school eyepiece construction technique.  Exposed retaining ring with spanner wrench notches?  It's probably why they covered it with that rather extensive rubber eye cup.

Cup stays on but rolled down to protect my glasses. Tak Abbe Orthos are the same old design. 

[Ricochet]

1 hour ago, 25585 said:

Bit late for New Telescope but yet to unbox the 300P.

That is both shocking and unsurprising at the same time.

 

[25585]

2 hours ago, Ricochet said:

That is both shocking and unsurprising at the same time.

 

It's been in my garage as I have to modify it's intended dob mount first, had visitors for Easter so got delayed. 

[TheLookingGlass]

Loved the eyepiece pics!

I drooled for every pic I saw !!!  

Nice! ?

[TheLookingGlass]

On 20/11/2017 at 09:12, 25585 said:

Not a LVW, but hopefully as good. 

Eye cup does screw up but is loose. It comes off completely leaving a bare metal red rim. 

Screwed down or removed made no difference to eye relief. I could see almost the FOV, less than on my LVWs. The eye lens is slightly concave but near top so not very recessed. 

This 2 incher is heavy, more than my 30mm NVLW, not much difference between this Orion & a 42mm LVW. 

Good feel to the construction and broad rubber grip ring. 

This 20 does not replace the LVW 22mm I want, but hopefully will dampen my yearning. Onto bigger things!

Just wondering , where is your review of this eyepiece?

[Mr Spock]

34 minutes ago, TheLookingGlass said:

Just wondering , where is your review of this eyepiece?

This is a four year old thread and 25585 is no longer a member 

[TheLookingGlass]

1 minute ago, Mr Spock said:

This is a four year old thread and 25585 is no longer a member 

🤣

[Louis D]

46 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

This is a four year old thread and 25585 is no longer a member 

 

1 hour ago, TheLookingGlass said:

Just wondering , where is your review of this eyepiece?

He's active over on CN using the same ID if you're really that interested in contacting him.  John Huntley is exclusively active over there now as well.

As for me, I enjoy the more civil discourse here on SGL; although I'll admit I've sometimes done my part to push the boundaries. 😁